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If you work for Uber or DoorDash, your boss isn't a person but an algorithm
App-driven jobs in the gig economy can mean constant surveillance
Pringle, Ramona http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/pringle-uber-doordash-gig-economy-1.5238726
Publisher: CBC
Date Written: 12/08/2019
Year Published: 2019
Resource Type: Article
Gig-economy apps claim that their workers are contractors or even another kind of customer but human-devised algorithms strictly control their work conditions.
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
According to Alex Rosenblat, the author of Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work, the significance of this distinction is that drivers are largely excluded from the protections of employment law, such as a minimum wage, anti-discrimination law or the ability to collectively bargain over pay.
Indeed, some companies have even tried to make the claim that the workers driving you around or delivering your food are in fact "consumers" themselves, arguing that they're just users of the app, employing a different feature set....
Indeed, said Rosenblat, "for a long time, when drivers needed help or had concerns, there wasn't even a phone number they could call."
Just because there are no humans to report to doesn't mean there aren't humans higher up the chain of command. Algorithms might be monitoring workers, but executives and engineers are designing those algorithms, and cashing in.
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